Binary in the Blood
by BrownieFox
Summary: The Digital World wasn't made for humans, and small parts of the Digidestine's code are rewritten to fit a monster world a little bit better.
1. Chapter 1

The changes started to appear as the digidestined return to the digital world.

They all had a new bout of homesickness, a fresh reminder of what they were missing while in the world of zeros and ones. The last thing any of them wanted was things to appear that would drive their already fragile selves over the edge.

The first to notice a change had been Tai. Ever since their return home, he'd developed a steadily growing pain on the sides of his head. He's woken up one morning, frustrated to find that the throbbing sides of his head hadn't been slept off yet again. He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes - and cried out at the pain. The only one to react to his cry was Agumon, the rest still sleeping deeply and peacefully.

"What's wrong Tai?" Agumon asked, brow creased in worry. Tai blinked, looking at the dinosaur digimon and back at his hand. There didn't look like there was anything wrong with it, and with a bit more caution he brought it back to his eye and rubbed. Once again, he was met with a surprising roughness.

"I'm… not sure?" Was all Tai could offer. He touched the back of his hand with the other one and felt the odd texture that hadn't been there last night. Seeing how worried Agumon looked tugged at Tai's heart. He wished he had some kind of answer that would assuage Agumon's fear that something was wrong, but he didn't have any even for himself. All he could do was pat his partner's head.

And his hand was greeted by a matching courness. Tai's eyes widened, drawing back like he'd been burned and making Agumon look ever more confused.

"Agumon, I think something is very wrong."

Once the others have started to wake up but before they got moving for the day, Tai pulled Izzy and Joe aside. They were both smart, surely between the both of them they'd come up with an answer. Joe had pulled out some lotion his mom had added to his bag and gave it to Tai while Izzy touched his hand, rubbing the skin this way and that and looking quite fascinated, they comparing it to Agumon's.

"Is it like this all over your body?" Tai had shrugged again at Izzy's question and the boy started touching every part of uncovered skin on him curiously. Tai stopped paying attention at some point, busying himself with rubbing strawberry-scented lotion onto his skin. He hadn't thought about how much telling Joe would make the oldest digidestined worry over him, and how overbearing that would feel.

"Ouch, hey!" Tai flinched back as Izzy started to feel his hair, hand brushing the part of Tai's head that the pain had been radiating from.

"Wait, Tai," Izzy grabbed Tai's shoulder, eyes so focused that Tai stopped. Izzy slowly reached forward and touched the side of Tai's head again, more gently this time. "Tai, have you always had a bump on the side of your head?"

"What?!" Tai pushed Izzy's hand away to feel for himself and Joe hovered curiously off to the side.

They decided to keep it quiet, between the three of them for now. No need to worry the others, they were all going through enough stress as it was. If it became a bigger issue, of course they'd tell the other digidestined, they were in this together after all. But the less things they were all collectively worrying about, the better.

oOo

Matt glanced around, making sure none of the others were looking as he studied his hands. The color of his nails were even pinker than they had been the night before, and he worried his bottom lip as he looked at their tops. The steady point they'd been developing was still there and showed no sign of going away any time soon.

"It'll be okay, they're just claws." Gabumon put his hand over Matt's, smiling up at him comfortingly. Matt attempted a smile back. Gabumon said more or less the same thing every morning since Matt had noticed the change and had told his partner. Matt clenched his hand into a fist, the small, still pretty dull point digging into his hand and leaving little pinpricks behind.

"Humans don't normally have claws." Matt sighed. He'd said it every time in response. The first time he had all but shouted it at Gabumon, nearly pulling his hair out of his head. Now, he just slipped his gloves back on and wondered how long he might be able to keep it a secret.

oOo

Sora watched wide-eyed as Tai pushed back his mess of hair to reveal the small point on the side of his head. Even as small as it was, though, it was still an unmistakable horn. Tai didn't seem too bothered by it, not even looking subconscious. She looked around the group. Most of them seemed surprised, and Kari immediately ran up to her brother who in turn knelt down so that she could feel the small point. Joe and Izzy didn't seemed surprised though, and Matt was staring at Tai's horns with such intensity Sora took a step back.

"How long have you had these?" Kari asked the question they were all wondering.

"Just a couple days. I didn't want to worry you guys." Tai actually looked kind of sheepishly about that, scratching the back of his head. "But they're really starting to take shape, and I didn't want to surprise you guys or something."

"Do you think you can fight digimon now too?" Kari asked, and Tai chuckled.

"No, I don't think so."

"Yeah, he should leave that to the experts!" Gatomon crossed her arms, smiling.

"I…" Everybody's attention shifted off of Tai as Matt spoke. His eyes were shut, face screwed up as his hands shook. "I have claws!"

"No way!" TK ran up to his brother, basically ripping off the other's gloves. The group shifted so that they could all see the pointed tips where fingernails had once been. "Whoa, you're so cool now!"

"What, I wasn't cool before?" Matt pretended to be affronted. "It's not that big of a deal. I… it's fine. They're really not that weird."

"Okay, does anybody have anything else have any other sudden mind-blowing revelations to share with the group?" Izzy stepped forward, looking at the other five who hadn't shared any thing. Nobody stepped forward, and Sora slowly reached up to touch her hair.

"My hair." She blurted out, and now everyone was looking at her. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and glanced down at Biyomon, who seemed to be giving her an encouraging smile - at least, the best that a digimon with a beak could manage. "When we went back to the real world, my hair started to get thicker, and now its like all of my hair's been replaced by feathers."

"Really? Let me see." Izzy reached up towards Sora's hair, but she swatted it away.

"Hey! Don't just touch my hair without permission!" Izzy blinked.

"Oh, sorry. May I see?" Sora carefully carded through her hair and plucked one out, handing it to Izzy. He held it close to his face, studying it.

"Prodigious!" Izzy cried, grinning. "Amazing! It truly does look like a feather."

"I wasn't lying!" Sora snapped, but there wasn't much heat behind it. She knew Izzy didn't really think that, he was just excited by something new to study.

"Does this mean the rest of us are going to become freaks?" Mimi asked, sounding a bit afraid. "I'm not going to start growing a giant nose or something am I?"

"We're not freaks!" Matt and Sora shouted back in unison. Sora blushed a bit, turning away and rubbing some of her hair between her fingers.

"As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I think it's safe to assume so." Izzy held up the feather as if it was proof. "We'll just have to wait and see what else happens. I wonder what caused this sudden mutation in us. Is it because we're the Chosen Children? Or perhaps because we came to the digital world at all?"

"At least we have our best brain on the case." Tai smiled, scratching Kari with side of his head as she pushed him away, giggling.

oOo

Mimi ran her hands through her hair, looking at her reflection in the water.

"I guess it's better than horns." She conceded, the stiff groups bending just a bit as she played with it but not nearly as much as hair should. She tried braiding and succeeded somewhat, though she couldn't get it nearly as tight as she used to. Off to the side Izzy was playing with a piece she had given him so that he'd stop messing with the rest of it. Honestly, when that boy had a scientific mystery to solve he forgot all about personal space.

"Mimi, can you prickle them again?" Mimi puffed out her cheeks, but swallowed down the retort. He'd already asked her to do so several times, couldn't he just let her play around with the new trait on her own?

"Oh alright. But just this one last time." She held up a single finger and gave the nerd a sharp look while her other hand removed the braid. Mimi took a breath in, closed her eyes, and tensed up her body. She peeked her eyes open again, still tensed, and could see the hairs on her arms sticking straight up, now rigid, and she was sure the hair on her head was quite a sight to behold.

"Amazing!" Izzy touched of the needle points. "And it happened so fast!"

It had only taken a day, maybe two, for Mimi's flowing, carefully washed hair, always so soft and shiny, to be replaced with the new stuff that sat on her head. It was still long, and still pretty shiny, but the softness was all gone. Now who would play with her hair?

"Okay, you've had your fun, now go science somewhere else. Don't you know ladys need some alone time?" Mimi sniffed. Izzy stood up and started to walk away, but paused before he got too far.

"Mimi?"

"Yes, Izzy?" Mimi brushed her hairs back down.

"I still think you look pretty." Mimi looked up and Izzy gave her a smile.

"... thank you Izzy."

"If anything, I think it looks even better!" Palmon added in once Izzy was out of sight, and Mimi laughed until she cried and hugged her partner close.

oOo

"It's based off of our digimon."

Everybody was sitting around a campfire, looking at Izzy as he more or less presented his scientific findings to them. Tai's horns had become more prominent by now. While they could still be hidden under his mop of hair, they usually weren't as Kari placed little flowers she found around them. They had darkened in color too, a dark brown with equally dark blue stripes. Matt's claws were more clearly claws now, and now Izzy could clearly see the resemblance between them and Garurumon's. Both Sora and Mimi hadn't shown much change with their hair, but Izzy had had enough change in himself to keep his research going.

"Agumon doesn't have horns." Tai pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't have horns." Agumon patted the side of his head.

"But Greymon does." Tentamon said. "Birdramon has feathers of sorts, flames would hard to put on a human. Togemon had needles, Garurumon had claws, and, well, when I'm Kabuterimon I have weird teeth."

On cue, Izzy opened up his mouth and showed off the six new and weird teeth. Instead of opening and closing horizontally, the new set moved vertically and could tuck neatly into the sides of his mouth. His cheeks puffed out just a little bit more now, and it had been painful during the day they had quickly grown in, but now they were fascinating to practice with.

"EW GROSS GROSS GROSS!" Mimi put her hands in front of her face, eyes squeezed shut and shaking her head back and forth.

"Mimi don't be rude!" Joe admonished, though he too looked a bit weirded out.

"Dude let me see!" Tai scooted closer to Izzy. "That's so cool!"

"So wait, does that mean I'm going to get something that's like Ikkakumon?" Joe asked. "Please tell me I'm not going to become a hairy yeti."

"I don't think there's anyway to know until you start to manifest it. There doesn't seem to be much pattern or reason behind when we start showing signs of mutating. We can only wait."

oOo

As it turns out, Joe, Kari, and TK don't have time for their change to show before they leave the Digital World for what the eight of them thought was forever.

Right after the events, as they try to slot into a world that just doesn't feel right anymore, they meet up almost every other day. It was like a support group of sorts, composed of the only people who could understand what the others had been through. It was one a few days after the defeat of Apocalymon that Joe arrived with a beanie tugged over his head, hiding every strand of hair from sight.

"You know, Sora pulls off that look way better than you." Mimi snatches the beanie off of Joe's head before he can stop her, and the general chatter between Digidestined hushed as the familiar grey-blue they had become accustomed to on their journey was nowhere to be seen. Instead, snow-white hair tumbled out

"Hey, give that back!" Joe snatched the hat back and shoved it back on his head, but the damage had already been done.

"Well it's about time." Matt said, putting his hands on his hips and smirking.

"Oh, it's so soft!" Mimi cooed, pulling the hat off once more and carding her fingers through the hair as Joe pushed her hands away. "No fair, how come all you get is hair dyed for free?"

"Maybe it effects you less the older you are." Joe reasoned, having by now given up and accepted his fate as Mimi played with his hair.

It wouldn't be for a few more months until they found out Joe's second effect as the eight went swimming in the ocean. Joe barely noticed he'd been underwater for over five minutes until he comes back up to see the other seven panicking.

oOo

TK's baby teeth fall out, his adult teeth grow it, and something twitches beneath the skin on his back. He doesn't tell his dad right away, or his mom, or even six of the other Digidestined. Instead when he first notices the change he walks by himself all the way to Matt's apartment and the two figure it out together.

Matt's there with TK, holding his hand as the small wings break out of the skin and helps clean up the blood on his back. TK sleeps over that night, hugging a pillow he wishes was Patamon and sleeping with Matt in the same bed, the safest place he can think of. They tell the rest of their group the next day, and TK flaps the little featherless wings weakly, the area still raw. He thinks of Angemon and tries not to cry. He fails, and the meeting ends with a big group hug.

When the wings get bigger and really start taking shape, fluffy down feathers covering them, Matt and TK get their mom and dad together to reveal the wings to them. Matt's claws had been easy enough to hide, and they had agreed they would continue to not tell their parents about that. Wings, white angelic wings, were much harder to keep hidden, and at least their parents needed to know that.

"How- what- how did this happen?" TK's dad asked, a hand just barely touching a wing. His mom had a hand covering her mouth, staring at them with clear confusion. TK did his best not to twitch them, not wanting to spook his parents more than they already were.

"We think it may have to do with the Digital World." Matt said, and luckily their parents dropped it there.

Wings were much harder to hide than anything else the others had had, and maybe Joe was on to something with getting worse because TK was younger. But Matt didn't complain too much. He thought about Angemon's three pairs of wings and thanked any deity that existed that TK only got one.

oOo

Kari sprouts a tail overnight.

It happens months after everyone else has had their 'thing' and she's not expecting it. The night had been restless, she couldn't get comfortable, and her tailbone had hurt, like she'd fallen from the top of their apartment building and landed on it. At some point she managed to get some sleep, and when the morning light came through the window and she woke up she had a new limb.

The tail had purple and white fur with a particular tuft at the end, just like Gatomon's, and what hit Kari right after the surprise was the overwhelming grief of her friend, her other half that was cut off from her. When Tai came into the bathroom after having pounded on the door for a while, he was greeted by Kari sobbing and holding the purple tuft in her hands.

Kari supposed she should be happy that it was easier to hide than TK's wings. Her best friend now had to wear baggy jackets everywhere he went to help hide his new appendages, but all he had to do was fold them up. That's what wings do anyway. A tail wasn't meant to wrap so tightly around a body, like she had to have it when out in public.

She was incredibly glad that her brother was a Digidestined too. There was something so comforting about knowing that her brother also had to be careful, making sure his hair was a wide mess that kept the horns out of view. They had yet to get really big, but there were still there. You could even spot them, if you knew what you were looking for.

Their parents took the tail well - they'd taken Tai's horns well too - and soon there was a bottle of cat shampoo 'in case human isn't good for it' in the shower.

On the reunion of the day they went to the digital world, the day Wizardmon died and Kari met her partner, after the small party the eight held, Tai gave her a small present. A smile golden band that was obviously supposed to look sort of like Gatomon's. Kari had sobbed and thanked Tai. Remembering hurt, but even as young as she was she knew that forgetting would be worse.


	2. Chapter 2

Four years, and it felt like the world should change eventually. But for those four years things mostly stayed the same. There were _small_ changes, there always were. Growing up, new ages, new grades, new schools. Same friends though. Because they understood each other like no one else in the world could.

Tai's horns only got bigger. Eventually, his hair wouldn't be able to always hide them, even now they were starting to push the limits, but for now it was mostly a secret. Kari was also pretty sure a lot of other people knew about them, but Tai was Tai and a great guy so people looked the other way.

Matt took up guitar. Every so often he would complain about how asymetrical his hands were. The claws on his left hand were cut and trimmed short so that the parts of his fingers that were still flesh could hold down the strings. The claws on his right hand remained long, plucking and strumming the strings easily. Most people didn't notice, just figuring that as a kid in a band he painted his nails and was extravagant.

Izzy was diligent in school and didn't look any of the others in the eyes when he revealed his new pet beetle. He picked up a habit of clicking his extra six teeth together whenever he was bored or nervous or lost deep in thought.

Sora and Mimi didn't show much change. Sora's feathers got a bit thicker, and if people bothered to look closely it was pretty clear that it wasn't hair. The feathers themselves seemed to radiate heat, and in the winter they'd take turns playing with her feathers and warming their hands in it. Mimi figured out how to use her needle-hair to style it in ways that should've been impossible. The other digidestined were bombarded each day with new pictures of Mimi with brightly colored hair and flowers threaded in.

Joe's snow-white hair never changed, and he grew it out long. Some mornings, he'd ruffle it and muss it up and think of Ikkakumon. When he felt like he was drowning in the work load from his school, he'd slip out at night and go to the river, swim down to the bottom and remind himself that he'd be okay, he didn't drown easily. Not anymore.

TK wore baggy jackets in the summer to hide the lump on his back that was his wings. In the middle of the night, he'd stretch them out and ruffle the feathers. He wasn't crazy enough to jump, of course, but he did wonder if the limbs were capable of flight now.

Kari wrapped her tail tight tight tight around her hips and kept it hidden. The golden band that Tai had given her couldn't stay on her tail, far too bulky, but she kept it on her wrist and when school and life got tough she'd close her eyes and feel the cold metal and imagine that Gatomon was there comforting her.

That was their world.

And then a second one opened up to them once more.

oOo

Davis felt himself come apart and then be refit together. He wasn't in the computer lab anymore, the old school room replaced with an unfamiliar jungle.

"Is this… the Digital World?" Davis asked, gawking at the trees and underbrush like nothing he'd ever seen before.

"Yeah. Yeah it is." Davis turned around to see TK and Kari behind him. Kari was by a tree, one of her hands running across its bark. Tk was just standing there, looking up at the leaves overhead, a content smile on his face. Something giant behind TK shifted, moved, stirred, and Davis remembered Tai talking about monsters that existed in the digital world.

"TK, behind you!" Because sure Davis wasn't too fond of the guy, but he didn't want him being attacked by a digimon.

"Where?!" TK spun around, and the white things spread out wide and turned with him and - oh, they were on TK's back. Giant and feathered wings that beat the air once before folding back up on his back, somehow looking much smaller than when they were spread out.

"I don't see anything." Kari walked up next to TK, looking out to the jungle, and a purple and white tail twitched back and forth, a golden circlet sitting near the end.

"Wh- what the hell?! Wing-, t-tai-, what's going on here?!" Davis shouted and the other two teens turned around. The wings and tail twitched again and they shared a look that Davis didn't understand, couldn't interpret.

"It's a long story." TK laughed, and the wings spread out again, giving a good and strong flap that rustled the leaves on the ground and whipped Davis' hair. "It's not important, right now we need to find Tai."

And find Tai they did. Along the way the two others attempted to explain they extra limbs, but it all boiled down to ' _It just sort of happened'_ with maybe a shrug added on to the end. At some point during the search Davis also realized he was wearing a new outfit - a _really cool_ outfit - but it seemed like such a little thing compared to what TK and Kari had.

"They're really close now." The trio perked up, all recognizing Tai's voice.

"TK!" The second voice Davis wasn't nearly as familiar with, but the way the other two stiffened clearly said that they were.

"Patamon?!" TK's voice cracked as an orange and white blur zipped through the air and into TK's arms and then he fell to his knees. "Patamon."

"You guys made it!" Tai rounded a corner with an orange dinosaur and a cat on his left and right.

"Gatomon!" Kari knelt down, arms open wide as the cat with a tail that matched hers ran into them. Davis looked at the reunions and then looked back at Tai, who wasn't looking at the digimon or the wings or tail, but looked far more suprised to see Davis. Davis just grinned at his personal inspiration.

"I told them you'd be fine, Tai."

"Uh, hi Davis. What a surprise." Tai blinked and scratched the side of his head. Tai's hair was usually so fluffy, and it still was, but was a bit more toned down, a bit less carefully-crazily styled and Davis could see a sharp point poking out.

He knew the team all whispered about 'Tai, the Demon of the Soccer Field' and joked about the dual meaning of it.

Huh.

Horns.

Figures.

oOo

When Ken was the Digimon Emperor, his hair was a mess and they only say him on brief occasions. When Ken was in the human world, his outfit was immaculate and so was his hair.

They heard nothing from Ken, had thought they'd seen the last of him, and then he showed up with his partner.

He wasn't wearing his Digimon Emperor outfit, and he actually looked like he did in real world. Except for, of course, the long dark-green antenna. He didn't say anything to the Digidestined as he caught worm in his arms, simply turned around and walked away.

The next time they saw him, arriving to their aid with Stingmon in full form, the antenna were still there. After the fight was over and they met up with him more closely, Yolei noticed TK and Kari's extra appendages twitching nervously. After he walked away, Yolei was the one who asked the question that had been on her mind for a while now.

"How long until we start changing?"

Kari and TK shared a look, but had no answer.

oOo

"Guys, check it out!"

Davis ran into the computer room with his shirt off.

"Oh my god, Davis, have some dignity!" Yolei cried out, putting his hand in front of her face.

"No, really, look!" Davis insisted, and patted his chest. "I'm finally getting my superhero stuff!"

"Huh, what do you know, you are." TK stared at the marking on Davis' torso, as did Cody. It was the familiar V/X that ExVeemon had. The two girls were still looking away. "You should probably put your shirt on though."

"Yeah," Davis conceded, pulling the shirt out from under his arm and shook it out before slipping it back over his head, " And that's not all, I have hand spikes too!"

"Let me see!" Cody grabbed Davis' hand and ran his finger over the point, like the tip of a kitchen knife poking out of the back of his hand. Davis grinned and held up his other hand for the others to see and grinned even brighter when Kari came over and took his hand curiously. Her hands were always more calloused than he expected them to be, but that was part of what he liked about her.

"Now I can beat up the digimon on my own." Davis bragged. Gatomon scoffed, rolling her eyes, arms folded.

"I've heard that one before."

"We'll crush anything in our path!" DemiVeemon cheered, bouncing up and down next to Davis.

It wouldn't be until a couple days later he wondered how he was supposed to hide the blades.

oOo

During class Cody ground his back against his chair as he sat. His back had been itching since yesterday morning and it hadn't shown any sign of getting better. If anything, the itch had gotten worse.

"Are you okay Cody?" Yolei whispered, looking at him with deep concern.

"Yeah," Cody grunted, reaching behind himself and scratching the skin with his nails. "Just itchy or something. I'll probably ask my mom about it. I was hoping it would go away." Cody never got around to asking his mom about.

That day as they went into the Digital World, Cody scratched his back a little bit more came away with blood from his back and his finger on his hand.

"Cody, are you okay?" TK was the first notice.

"My back," Cody rubbed the blood between his fingers and wincing as he bothered his cut. TK was upon him in a moment.

"I'm going to take a look, okay?" Cody nodded and TK lifted the back of Cody's shirt."I wish Joe was here. He always has supplies."

Cody flinched as TK touched the part along his spine that was bleeding.

"Well?" Cody asked. He heard TK sigh.

"I don't know how else to tell you this, but Cody? You're growing spikes."

"... oh."

oOo

"Alright, let me see them."

Yolei felt blood rush into her cheeks as Matt entered the computer room. Matt was absolutely astoundingly hot. Sure, he was probably too old for her, but he was really good looking. She wasn't about to go crazy over him, of course, she was being a lot more careful after how her crush on Ken turned out with him being the Digimon Emperor.

"Uh, yes, let me just," Yolei bent down and and untied her shoes, taking them off and removing her socks. She wiggled her toes, tapping them on the floor, and the talon - _talons -_ clicked on the shiny floor. Matt sat down across from her and held out his left hand. The tips were short and rounded, just barely starting to get back to the point that they were supposed to be. He dug into his bag and pulled out two metal files and two odd looking clippers, handing one set to her.

"Alright, so you want to slowly work your way back with the clippers - be careful of the quick…"


	3. Chapter 3

Angemon hovered over the ledge.

"Don't worry TK, I'll catch you." He smiled, and TK tried to swallow down his fear. As weird as it was to think, he'd fallen from higher heights than this, been up higher than this ledge looking over a forest below. In the digital world, of course. TK rolled his shoulders, and his wings expanded out, stretching them as far as they could go. He beat them once, testing how it felt as the muscles moved. Most digimon didn't really obey the laws of physics, and so oddly enough while TK 'got' his wings from Angemon, it was Birdramon who was most able to help teach him the motions that flying required.

TK backed up a bit, judging the distance between himself, the ledge, and Angemon. For all he knew, this was pointless and the wings were never going to be able to make him fly, but he had to try.

With a running start, TK jumped into the air, wings flapping in powerful and quick bursts as he did his best not look at the ground, instead focusing on Angemon hoving just a bit out of reach. It was like learning to swim, TK thought, as he continued to push himself forward through the air until Angemon's outstretched arms were able to grab him tightly, safely, and TK was finally able to stop. God his muscles hurt.

"I'm going to feel this in the morning." TK groaned. Heck, he was feeling it now!

"TK!" Angemon grinned, holding TK up like he weighed nothing, "You did it! You flew!"

"I flew!" TK cheered back, and Angemon brought them back to solid ground. "I can't believe I can actually fly! I mean, it's not easy, and I'm kinda bad at it, but there's big ol' things work!"

"You'll be a pro in no time" Angemon de-digivolved back down to Patamon and happily knocked his head into TK's stomach and the boy let the himself be bowled over, falling onto his back. TK looked up at the sky, smiling, and couldn't wait until the day he could freely fly through it.

oOo

"It's cold!" Davis complained.

"Just hold still." Kari bapped Davis' head before returning to her task at hand. Davis did his best to suppress a shiver as the thick black liquid slipped over his hand blades, covering up he sharp edges. It had actually been Tai who had suggested the solution. Apparently their mom hadn't wanted to declaw their cat, but also was done with getting her furniture ruined, and thus had found the solution of some kind of weird cat claw paintnail polish. "Alright, they should dry in no time, just don't pick them off."

"Thanks." Davis replied, doing his best to change his grimace into a smile for Kari. The substance felt weird, and he could feel the slight weight it added to his hands. Kari reached down and picked something up to hand to him.

"Here, these used to be Matt's but they should fit you." A lot of the older digidestined used to wear gloves, oddly enough. There were two cuts in the back of these ones, undoubtedly for Davis' hand blades to go through.

"Are you sure this is going to work? It's a wonderful solution, of course, but will it really keep people from noticing?" Davis asked, trying not to sound skeptical. Kari sighed.

"Honestly? No, not really, but I don't have any better ideas." Kari admitted. "You refused to have them filed down - which, I understand," She quickly added when Davis opened his mouth to defend himself again, "It just means we have to get creative."

"I hate this." Davis made a sour face, one hand tapping at the black goo on the other. "Why can't the world just be okay with people that have weird abilities."

"There's, like, a whole genre devoted to that." Kari giggled, and Davis smiled. Well, there was another good thing to come from all of this: getting to spend more time with Kari.

oOo

"Oh no," Yolei mourned, staring off the bridge and to the waters. "What am I going to do?"

"We'll figure something out." Cody tried to comfort his friend.

"Don't worry, I've called Joe." TK reassured them. "He'll be able to help."

"My digivice is probably at the bottom of the river by now! What can he do?" Yolei cried, but TK just grinned.

"You forget who his partner is." And okay, that was true, Yolei had forgotten momentarily about Gomamon, the only naturally aquatic digimon out of their combined twelve.

"Is he really bringing Gomamon all the way out here?" Cody asked. Yolei sighed as TK just continued to smile. They stood there for a while, long enough that Yolei was able to clean up the rest of the spilt supplies from her backpack. It was late enough that there weren't many cars crossing the bridge or other people walking around. Finally, one of the rare cars came to a stop on the bridge and out came the older digidestined.

Yolei didn't know much about Joe. She knew he was the oldest out of all of them, that he was studying to be a doctor, and that his white hair was what he got from the digital world. Other than that, though, the man was a mystery. He looked a bit tired, hair pulled up into a messy bun and wearing sandals that clearly didnt go with his semi-formal clothing.

"Hey Joe." TK waved him over and with only a quick look in either direction Joe ran across the road to them.

"I came as soon as I could, where did it fall?" Joe got right down to business, looking over the edge.

"Uh, right around there?" Jolei pointed down into the water, not sure how much help it did. Joe seemed to understand and nodded.

"Man, now my car's gonna be all wet." Joe looked defeated as he bent down, taking off fencehis sandals and blazer, handing them to TK as he climbed over the fence.

"Wait, you're not really going to-" Cody started, but beforehe could finish Joe dove over the side.

"Oh my god, Joe!" Yolei stared over the edge as he splashed into the water.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." TK reassured them, not even looking over.

One minute passed.

Two.

Still no sign of Joe coming back up.

"TK…" Yolei turned to her friend, not sure how she was supposed to break the news to him that his friend may've drowned.

"Joe's got it." TK remained optimistic.

But ten minutes passed and there was no sign of their fellow digidestined. Yolei shook her head, reaching into her pocket.

"That's it TK, I can't just sit around while Joe drowns, he's probably already dead! I'm calling 911!" Yolei flipped open her phone but before she could text in the three numbers TK grabbed it out of her hands. "Wha- hey! Give it back!"

"Yolei, we can't have the police here!" His usual smile was still on his face, but TK's eyes portrayed a deep-set worry. "What are you going to tell them, 'help my friend just survived being underwater for ten minutes please start dissecting him'?"

"Yolei!" Before she could reply to that, there was a shout from down in the water. The three of them looked back down to see Joe's head sticking out of the water, very much alive. He was waving her digivice in the air. "I found it!"

"How…?" Cody's face contorted with confusion, and Yolei was sure she was wearing a similar expression

"I thought we told you that Joe's digi-mutation was like Ikkakumon." TK said, and Yolei could see clearly on his face that he knew they'd all thought it was just the white hair.


	4. Chapter 4

It was really interesting, comparing Ken the Digimon Emperor to Ken the Digidestined.

The Digimon Emperor was aloof, mean spirited, with not even an ounce of compassion or empathy inside of him.

Ken the Digidestined, on the other hand, was indeed the rightful holder of the Crest of Kindness.

It had been years since any of the original eight had had their crests, but TK had still seen the attributes reflected in them, in himself. He was reminded at times that their physical tags and crests were really just conductors, and even though they'd given those up the protection and stabilization of the digital world, in truth they were still and forever would have that power in them, shown through in the few times that they managed to digivolve their digimon into ultimate, like the fight against Diaboromon.

It was most certainly Ken the Digidestined spent a lot of his time at Primary Village.

One of the weird things about the digital world was seasons, as it didn't really have them except for in places that it does. That was one of the crazy things about the digital world: just when you thought there was a sure fire rule, you'd find somewhere that didn't conform to it. At any rate, Primary Village was one of the places where there weren't seasons, and as Earth got colder the later into the year it got, the Primary Village was a welcome warmth.

"Alright TK, you know the drill. Don't go messing with any unhatched eggs." Elecmon instructed, smiling up at TK. Tk smiled right back, giving a soft laugh.

"You're never going to let that one go, are you?" Tk knelt down and scratched Elecmon's head, who batted TK's hand away with a teasing glint in his eyes that said if he wasn't so busy, he may be in the mood to actually play around for once. The spark faded though as Elecmon looked behind TK, and the digimon lowered his voice as he said,

"And you'll keep an eye on _him,_ right?"

TK looked behind him, to where Ken was sitting on one of the oversized, extremely colorful blocks, watching Wormmon and Patamon playfully chasing some of the baby digimon around. Ken went to the digital world plenty on his own, but it was some unsaid rule that if he went to any villages, he had to be accompanied by another digidestined - both for his and digimon's own good. Ken's outfit had changed again at some point. Long gone was the cape and blue uniform of the Digimon Emperor, but so was the almost-depressing grays of his usual school uniform. Instead, Ken wore some kind of soft pink turtleneck and a long gray jacket. Tk, as well as the others, all thought it was a pretty good sign.

"You know he won't do anything." TK pointed out. "He's been here a lot and he hasn't done anything yet."

"I know, I know." Elecmon grumbled, looking ashamed of himself but not taking his eyes off of Ken, "It's just… it was a long year or two, you know?"

TK nodded and scratched Elecmon again, and the digimon let him.

"Everything will be okay. You, Patamon, and Wormmon go get some food, and I'll keep an eye on the ankle biters." TK assured him.

"I won't be long." Elecmon promised, and then louder so that the two rookies could hear him, "Alright, let's get a move on. We've got a lot of food to get if we want to keep them all well-fed!"

Patamon and Wormmon broke off from the group, shouting good-byes to their partners as they followed Elecmon into the woods. The babies, now without their new friends, immediately started to mob around Ken's dangling feet as the next interesting thing near them. Ken lifted his feet just out of their reach, looking nervous, but TK could see the smile tugging at the edge of his mouth as he playfully dropped one of his feet back within reach. His antennae bounced in time with each successful 'hit' the digimon landed on him.

"Okay kids, let's see how long it'll take to tire you out." TK spread out his wings and flapped them, buffeting some of the digimon away and getting excited little squeals out of them.

"Time to see how much they remember about soccer from the last time I was here." Ken seemed more relaxed now that Elecmon was gone and, being careful not to step on anyone, hopped down from the block with a soccer ball in his hands.

oOo

"Zerimon, get back here!"

The digimon didn't give an actual reply (not that baby digimon were known for their speaking abilities) and instead just spun around mid-hop and blew some acidic bubbles towards TK and Ken as they chased after him, Zerimon continuing to chase after the soccer ball. Was the two of them probably one too many for one baby digimon? Yes. But Ken refused to go back because if something happened to one of the babies under his watch, Ken would probably never be allowed back in Primary Village, and TK wanted to ensure that Zerimon made it back safely for that same reason.

So they ran, thanking whatever Digi-God there was that the rest of the baby digimon had fallen asleep with Zerimon being the only exception, still playing with the soccer ball long after the others were tuckered out.

The colorful and soft structures of Primary Village were well behind them now, putting all of them at risk of any nearby prowling digimon. Zerimon seemed to be completely unaware of this and continued to hop along, knocking the soccer ball farther and farther into the woods.

"Does he not get tired?!" Ken panted next to TK. TK didn't reply, too busy trying to get enough air into his lungs to keep running.

"Zeri!" Zerimon shouted, as if confirming Ken's question.

"Oh no." TK muttered under his breath, trying to push himself faster.

"What?" Ken picked up on TK's growing urgency.

"I'm pretty sure there's cliff around here." TK's mouth twisted into a grimace. "Zerimon, stop!"

And then, miracle of miracles, Zerimon stopped.

Zerimon had apparently found the cliff, and had the sense to stop before running off. The soccer ball was nowhere to be seen, presumably not being so lucky. TK breathed a sigh of relief, slowing his speed down now that Zerimon wasn't moving. The baby digimon looked down off the edge of the cliff and then slowly turned around, mouth turned down in a pout.

"Hey, it's okay, we'll bring another soccer ball next time." TK knelt down and put out a hand to the Zerimon. He looked at it with his wet eyes, seconds away from crying-

And then the ground beneath him crumbled.

"Zerimon!" TK shouted, lunging forward but just barely missing the digimon. Ken, who had still been on his feet, jumped right off after Zerimon. "KEN!"

TK pushed himself to his feet, flaring his wings out and preparing to dive off after the two. He wasn't great at flying yet - what he did could hardly be _called_ flying - but he might still be able to glide them down to the ground safely. Before he could do so, however, an odd yet familiar hum filled the air. Fighting the urge to jump off anyway, TK looked over the edge.

Neither Ken nor Zerimon were lying injured on the rocky ground below. Instead, they were steadily gaining altitude. Ken's coat was pushed up awkwardly as two sets of insect-like ( _Stingmon-_ like, TK noted) wing moved in a blur behind him. His arms were wrapped tightly around Zerimon, and Zerimon's tail was wound around Ken's arm as the digimon buried his head into Ken's chest.

Ken landed back on the ledge surprisingly delicately, the insect wings relaxing back into a down position. The coat slid back down and covered the wings perfectly. The hum from the flapping was gone, and now TK could hear Zerimon's sobs.

"Hey, hey it's okay." Ken cooed to the baby digimon, gently petting his head. Slowly the sobbing petered out, though Zerimon stayed rather determinedly nestled as close to Ken as he could, only relaxing once he was finally asleep.

The walk back to Primary Village was awkwardly quiet at first, and TK realized it would be up to him to break the ice. Putting on his 'I swear I'm not trying to blame you for anything' said,

"Wings, huh?"

Ken cringed away from the comment anyway, looking guiltily down at the ground.

"Uh, yeah, wings." Ken said, more mumble than words.

"You know that's not, like, weird or a bad thing, right?" TK spread out his own wings to emphasize his point. Ken hummed in a way that said he didn't believe that. "Ken, c'mon, if you're a monster than the rest of us our."

"Well, I _am_ a monster, but not because of the wings or anything." Ken said, finally looking TK in the eye. "They don't really feel weird or anything anymore. I've had them for years now. I just… they make me feel _so stupid."_

"Stupid?" TK blinked. The back of Ken's coat lifted again as he spread his wings out, and this time TK could see how most of the back of Ken's turtleneck was just missing, a hole where his wings came out from. Ken ran a hand over one of his wings.

"TK, I was a genius, and I could realize that getting _wings and antennae_ from a _miraculous digital world_ meant it was more than just a computer program. I was just so determined that it was just data, just code, that none of this actually mattered." Ken's voice grew in power, in anger as he spoke, nails starting to dig into the wing he was holding. Before any real damage could be done, though, he let go and looked back down at Zerimon. Voice quiet and soft again, he continued, "I was fool, TK. Maybe I still am, but I can hope that I'm becoming less one of one."

TK understood why it was hard for digimon to forgive Ken. It had been hard for TK himself at first. He wasn't like Davis or Yolei or Cody. TK and Kari and the older digidestined had been through places of darkness, had already come to terms that sometimes there were digimon - and thus there were absolutely people - who were just evil and could not be reasoned with.

But TK could also see Ken fighting to regain his light, and he could see how Ken held the baby digimon in his arms. Ken always had to have a digidestine accompany him when he went to digimon villages, and TK always volunteered to come with Ken to Primary Village whenever he could. It was hear that Ken seemed to shine strongest, and TK could remember when the others had finally found the power of their crests, the power that radiated off of them.

It was here that the Kindness in Ken was almost tangible, and in those moments that TK felt his Hope in the digital world's - in Ken's - future growing brighter.

oOo

"I've got to go!"

Ken tried once more to pull the Zerimon off of his arm.

"Zeri!" The digimon refused to let go.

Ken glared at TK as he laughed.


End file.
